7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."
Prayer is communication with our Father in Heaven in which we offer Him our love, praise and worship. We do this by faith because we cannot see Him, but we do perceive Him in our spirits. In John 4 Jesus says that God is a Spirit and we must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.
The perception of God in our spirits translates as love, peace, faith, joy, inspiration, gratitude, praise and worship. We feel His presence as a calmness in the midst of turmoil and a knowing that He is in control of the situations that affect us.
Faith is defined in Hebrews 11 v 1: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Faith is the substance of our prayers, and it is the confidence we have that our prayers have been heard and answered. Even though we have to wait for some prayers to be answered, we don't need to repeat our requests, but rather just thank and praise the Lord for the coming answer.
If we need faith to receive answers a big block to getting what we have requested is doubt and unbelief. James calls it wavering. Faith is a muscle that should be honed, developed and used constantly because the Bible says faith without works is dead.
If we doubt that God is hearing our prayers, they will go unheard by Him until we change doubt into believing that He hears every prayer. Don't second guess God and don't keep digging up the seed of faith to see if it has taken root! Look around at this world and see how His garden grows. He knows what to do with seeds, and especially with faith seeds.
So we need to apply our faith until it grows stronger. Believe God for small things and when those come to pass our faith grows. Sometimes a sick person we have prayed for dies and we feel disappointed that the Father ignored our cries. We always need to trust in the Father's will for each individual.
Sometimes the disappointment turns angry and bitter towards God. Tragedies occur like earthquakes, tsunamis, superstorms, terrorism, plane crashes etc. and both believers and unbelievers are killed or injured. Our brothers and sisters are safely home with Jesus and that is our consolation.
John 10 v 10: "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
The thief is Satan who controls the world, which is not the Earth, for the Earth is the Lords. The world is the people who do not yet belong to Jesus. They belong to Satan, even if they are good, kind, humanitarian, selfless people. Even family members, if they are not born again Christians living according to the Bible, are under control of a dark being.
It is our duty to pray for the unsaved to be convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, and to praise Jesus for their salvation. We must, when prompted by Jesus, share our testimony of what Jesus has done for us with one He has prepared to receive it. Do it as soon as possible, tomorrow may be too late.
So trust God and stop doubting His ability to do whatever we ask. Faith and belief bring answers. Wavering brings nothing. Another block to prayers is anger and bitterness. The Word says that how we feel towards people we see and know reflects on how we feel towards Him whom we cannot see. We need to love the sinner but hate the sin.
So no matter how people have hurt, misunderstood, slandered, rejected or persecuted us, we should still love them and pray for them. Romans 14 v 13: "Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way."
Remember what you do unto others will be done to you. So rather let the Father judge and deal with offenders and let us repay evil with good, because then He will pour coals of fire upon their heads. This is not literal burning coals but He will work on their minds to show them that they are wrong.
If we put blocks in their way, the same will happen to us. So if we are not getting prayers answered let us check and see if we need to remove things we have said or done to those who hurt us. Forgive us Father and restore our faith.
Christians who send forth angels to do their bidding may be shocked to realise that they cannot control the angels of God. The only angels that can respond are fallen angels controlled by Satan and his demons. So these lying spirits that are being sent forth to "bless, heal, prosper, deliver and help" others are doing the very opposite. How can any angel under God's authority obey commands from human beings? If we gave a command contrary to the will of God who would the angel obey? It would cause confusion in the spiritual realm which is not of God.
The teaching on commanding of angels, which originated in America in the 1980's, and it went viral from there, says every Christian has 64,000 angels to send out to find parking, sell houses, heal the sick and bring in finances, to guard possessions and family, and everything in between. So Christians are sending evil spirits to each other and causing chaos in the church and elsewhere. My brethren repent of this false teaching and cancel every assignment angels have been given. Restore people to the Lord's perfect will.
Those angels are not only a serious block to our prayers but they hit us four ways in particular. The first is financial bondage - business dries up, expenses increase, nothing seems to help. Next our spiritual life hits the doldrums - God is absent, faith is a struggle, backsliding is happening. Another area of attack is our health, which drains us physically, emotionally, financially and spiritually. Finally, our relationships suffer either divorce, unruly children, family feuds, or disappearing friends.
If you are under attack in this way make a declaration before God: Father I declare that no weapon formed against me shall succeed because You are my shield and buckler and I walk in the blessings of Abraham. No angel sent by human beings has any authority over my life, family, finances or relationships with You or others. I bind and rebuke every false angel and cancel the assignment it is on, in Jesus' name. Through the Blood of Jesus I am born again, made holy and set apart to God. Through the Blood of Jesus no false angel or demon has any power over me. I am set free to enjoy the abundant blessing of Almighty God. In Jesus' name. Amen.